Ousmane Dembele Wins Ballon d’Or: Every Previous Winner of the Prestigious Award, Including Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
A little under four years ago, an injury-plagued Ousmane Dembele officially became a free agent, as the Frenchman struggled to live up to his nine-figure price tag at Barcelona and was very nearly surplus to requirements at Camp Nou.
Fast-forward to September 2025, and the Paris Saint-Germain wing wizard is the latest winner of the coveted Ballon d’Or, having enjoyed a ridiculous resurgence at the tip of Luis Enrique’s attack since returning to his homeland.
The 28-year-old was responsible for a sensational 51 goals in 53 matches during the 2024-25 season, including 14 involvements from 15 Champions League games as PSG finally ended their torturous European hoodoo with a 5-0 final thumping of Inter Milan.
Dembele beat Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah to the glittering golden ball, as the former Borussia Dortmund phenom joined the most elite of the elite at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.
Here, Sports Mole provides a list of every winner from the 2025 Ballon d’Or ceremony, as well as every men’s champion since the award’s inception all the way back in 1956.
Ballon d’Or 2025 Winners’ list
Ballon d’Or
Ousmane Dembele (PSG/France)
Ballon d’Or Féminin
Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona/Spain)
Men’s Kopa Trophy
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona/Spain)
Women’s Kopa Trophy
Vicky Lopez (Barcelona/Spain)
Women’s Johan Cruyff Trophy
Sarina Wiegman (England Women/Netherlands)
Men’s Johan Cruyff Trophy
Luis Enrique (PSG/Spain)
Men’s Yashin Trophy
Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG and Manchester City\Italy)
Women’s Yashin Trophy
Hannah Hampton (Chelsea/England)
Men’s Club of the Year
PSG
Women’s Club of the Year
Arsenal
Men’s Gerd Muller Trophy
Viktor Gyokeres (Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal/Sweden)
Women’s Gerd Muller Trophy
Ewa Pajor (Barcelona/Poland)
Socrates Award
Xana Foundation
All previous Ballon d’Or winners year-by-year
1956: Stanley Matthews
1957: Alfredo Di Stefano
1958: Raymond Kopa
1959: Alfredo Di Stefano
1960: Luis Suarez
1961: Omar Sivori
1962: Josef Masopust
1963 Lev Yashin
1964: Denis Law
1965: Eusebio
1966: Bobby Charlton
1967: Florian Albert
1968: George Best
1969: Gianni Rivera
1970: Gerd Muller
1971: Johan Cruyff
1972: Franz Beckenbauer
1973: Johan Cruyff
1974: Johan Cruyff
1975: Oleh Blokhin
1976: Franz Beckenbauer
1977: Allan Simonsen
1978: Kevin Keegan
1979: Kevin Keegan
1980:Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
1981: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
1982: Paolo Rossi
1983: Michel Platini
1984: Michel Platini
1985: Michel Platini
1986: Igor Belanov
1987: Ruud Gullit
1988: Marco van Basten
1989: Marco van Basten
1990: Lothar Matthaus
1991: Jean-Pierre Papin
1992: Marco van Basten
1993: Roberto Baggio
1994: Hristo Stoichkov
1995: George Weah
1996: Matthias Sammer
1997: Ronaldo
1998: Zinedine Zidane
1999: Rivaldo
2000: Luis Figo
2001: Michael Owen
2002: Ronaldo
2003: Pavel Nedved
2004: Andriy Shevchenko
2005: Ronaldinho
2006: Fabio Cannavaro
2007: Kaka
2008: Cristiano Ronaldo
2009: Lionel Messi
2010: Lionel Messi
2011: Lionel Messi
2012: Lionel Messi
2013: Cristiano Ronaldo
2014: Cristiano Ronaldo
2015: Lionel Messi
2016: Cristiano Ronaldo
2017: Cristiano Ronaldo
2018: Luka Modric
2019: Lionel Messi
2020: Cancelled
2021: Lionel Messi
2022: Karim Benzema
2023: Lionel Messi
2024: Rodri
2025: Ousmane Dembele
